


that there'll come a day the sun will rise

by Bara_no_Uta



Series: Finding Meaning in [E]ternity [19]
Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Families of Choice, Post-Ending E (NieR: Automata), Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:33:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27664079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bara_no_Uta/pseuds/Bara_no_Uta
Summary: A2 and 2B tell Anemone about their relationship and plan for 2B to get to know her better. Devola and Popola have a simple quest they need some help with, but there may be unexpected complications...
Relationships: 2B/A2 (NieR: Automata)
Series: Finding Meaning in [E]ternity [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1892593
Kudos: 13





	that there'll come a day the sun will rise

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly speaking, I'm not sure this chapter would work as a standalone. It mostly serves to set up a foundation for things to come and to advance a couple plot threads to their next point. The next chapter will continue directly from this one.

The day after telling 9S, 6O, and 21O that the two of them were together, 2B and A2 went to tell Anemone. They’d intended to tell her yesterday, but when they went to the camp, she’d been busy.

2B felt a little shy, sharing something so personal with Anemone, who she didn’t really know all that well. But she knew that Anemone’s friendship with A2 was something important to both of them, and she hoped she could get to know her a bit better, just as A2 had been getting to know 6O.

“Oh, No. 2 and 2B!” Anemone smiled when she saw them. “Sorry I was away yesterday. I heard you were looking for me. We’ve been trying to figure out what to do with the extra supplies we’ve got on that rooftop over there.” She made a vague motion in the general direction of the rooftop storage.

A2 smirked. “If you have no use for it, you could let Jackass blow it up.”

“I’m sure she would be happy to,” Anemone agreed, picturing the ridiculous grin she was sure Jackass would have at being asked to blow a bunch of things up. “But I want to make sure there’s nothing in there we’d find useful, first.”

Honestly, she wasn’t really sure what was in all those boxes. She only remembered having to help the guy in charge of sorting them get out after he had gotten himself trapped, and Jackass telling him he should have somehow created some explosives to escape. It was the one and only time she had ever even talked to Jackass, so it was a rather strange first impression. “Right. Anyway, we actually came by because there’s something we wanted to tell you.”

Anemone raised an eyebrow, trying to hide her smile. The last time she had spoken with A2, her friend hadn’t had any intention of sharing her feelings with 2B, but it wasn’t hard for her to guess that it was likely something had changed. After all, the two of them had so obviously harbored feelings for one another for a while now.

A2 looked at 2B, and when 2B smiled at her, reached over to hold her hand. “Thank you for listening, when I realized how I felt about 2B. We’re girlfriends now.”

Now that A2 had confirmed it, she made no effort to hold back her smile anymore. “I’m happy for you two. You’re a good match.”

2B looked at A2, her chest feeling light, before responding to Anemone’s statement. “Thank you.” It made her happy that someone who knew A2 possibly even better than she did felt that she was good for her. She certainly liked to think that was the case, but it was just nice to hear that from someone else, too.

“So what changed your mind about telling her? Or was it 2B who confessed?” She wondered if it was nosy of her to ask more about it, but she really was happy for them, and she could see how happy it made both of them as well. After everything they had been through, it was nice to see them getting to be happy.

…Come to think of it, Anemone noted, wouldn’t this be A2’s first relationship? And considering what she knew of the YoRHa, quite possibly 2B’s as well. Well, at least if they were equally inexperienced, they could learn how to navigate it together. If 2B had notable experience, she would worry about A2 not knowing what she was getting into, but… anyway, she trusted 2B to respect A2.

“I told her how I felt first,” 2B answered. She could still remember how quickly her heart had been pounding at the time, but now she was certainly glad to have taken the risk.

“2B is brave,” A2 said, her voice notably warmer than usual. “I’m really glad that she decided to tell me.” She looked to 2B and admitted, “Not that long ago, I was talking with Anemone and realized I love you. But I didn’t think you would feel the same, so I figured with everything already on your plate… better just to keep it to myself.”

_How could anyone not love you?_ 2B didn’t say it for a number of reasons, not least of which being because she knew that 9S still had yet to really warm up to her. But if she were to be completely honest, she thought so highly of A2 that it was hard to imagine that anybody could possibly turn her down. “I’m glad that I decided to tell you, too.”

…They were so cute together. Anemone almost wanted to laugh. Neither of them had a natural tendency to be all that open with their feelings, nowadays, and she could see how much effort had been put into becoming more able to communicate with one another. In some ways, she felt like she was starting to see glimpses of the old No. 2. Not entirely – it was only natural that she had been changed as a result of her painful experiences, so she would probably never be as naïve and innocent as she had been back then. But the No. 2 that she had met at that time was sensitive and emotional, and she had a feeling that rather than those traits changing, the No. 2 she knew now simply had her guard up so high that she wasn’t able to see those traits come out. In that regard, she was sure that No. 2 was happier now than she had been since that time.

“Anemone, do you like to fish? Or garden?” 2B asked. Usually she and A2 fished together, and they gardened together with 6O. But she was sure that 6O wouldn’t mind another friend, and having someone so friendly and sociable would probably help them get to know one another.

The question confused her for a moment, but soon enough she put the pieces together and realized that 2B was trying to invite her to something. “I can’t say I have experience with either, but I could try. Maybe gardening?” That was just out of convenience, because she didn’t have her own fishing pole and gardening wouldn’t require her to obtain any new supplies.

2B looked at A2. “Maybe she could join us and 6O? I know that 6O wouldn’t mind.” She felt confident in that assumption.

Personally, A2 couldn’t help but to think that she wouldn’t appreciate someone unexpected showing up who she didn’t know very well. But she and 6O had very different personalities as far as socializing went, so she could definitely believe that. And since 2B knew her so well, if 2B was sure, she would trust that assessment.

More than anything else, it warmed her heart to hear that 2B wanted to get to know Anemone. She had already been thinking of both of them as her allies, but it warmed her heart to think about them being a _group_ of allies. That they could all be friends together. She wasn’t sure what it was about that, but something about it was really moving. She squeezed 2B’s hand, trying to keep her own emotions in check. “I would love that.”

“So would I,” Anemone agreed. Getting to know new people wasn’t necessarily her strong suit, and she definitely didn’t consider herself any good at making conversation. But 2B meant a lot to A2, and she could see that the idea of them getting to know each other better as a group was impactful for A2. She turned to 2B. “I can’t guarantee my availability, but truthfully, it’s not common for urgent matters to come up around here nowadays. Most likely, if we plan a day, I can join you.”

Since the three of them didn’t have anything better to do, they had been going to the garden every day, even if it didn’t need to be tended to at all, just to hang out. But 2B understood how Anemone’s position as leader of the camp meant that she required a certain amount of planning. “Tomorrow?”

_You don’t waste any time, huh?_ One of the things that Anemone had learned during her time as leader was to think through how her words could be taken before saying them more than she had used to. She decided to keep that thought to herself, because she didn’t know 2B well enough to feel confident that 2B wouldn’t misinterpret that and think she was against it. “That’s fine with me—oh, but Devola and Popola had a favor they wanted to ask you. We can garden anytime, so if you need to push that out a bit, don’t worry about it.”

With the way that A2 had helped them before and gotten so fired up about why they were treated differently, toward the end of the war, Anemone assumed that she would want to help them with whatever it was they wanted to ask her.

“Thanks.” A2 looked to 2B. “Let’s see what they need, and then we can think about how much time it’ll take?”

“Sure.” While she hadn’t talked much with Devola and Popola, she had nothing against them, so if they needed help, she had no problem helping them.

A2 felt bad for Devola and Popola. She had asked Anemone once why she didn’t do more to help them be included in the camp, and Anemone had told her that the best she had been able to do was refusing to let other Resistance members insult them. Apparently her hands had been full with just that much… She wished she knew how to help, but she wasn’t sure how to convince them either, so the best she could do was to make a point of stopping by to talk to them once in a while.

“Works for me,” Anemone said.

A2 and 2B looked around, soon spotting Devola and Popola in their usual place. They went over.

“Hello!” Popola greeted them, offering a friendly smile.

“Hey,” A2 returned. “How are things going?”

Devola looked at Popola, making a silent request for her not to share the situation with her drinking. Someday perhaps she could feel good about having successfully quit, but so far it had only been two days since the last time she drank, so she didn’t want to make a big deal out of something that still felt so uncertain. And anyway, she hoped that A2 didn’t realize just how often she drank or how much she had relied on alcohol, and if she hadn’t realized it, Devola would rather keep it that way. She liked A2 and trusted her pretty well, but that was just too personal.

Popola gave a tiny nod, confirming to Devola that she understood, before turning her attention back to A2 and 2B. “Things are going well! We were actually thinking about a project… but I think we’re keeping it a surprise until we know if we can make it work, right?”

Devola grinned, knowing that when Popola said this, she meant making music. “Yeah. It’s exciting, but we don’t wanna get your hopes up if we can’t make it work after all.” She was sure that they would be able to sing, at least, but making instruments and having them sound the way they were supposed to was a much more challenging task with no instructions to go by.

“And you need materials for this project?” A2 guessed.

Popola’s smile turned apologetic, although she hoped that it wouldn’t be too difficult. “Yes. Your Pod can tell you where to find things, right?”

“Yeah, seems like it can.” She wasn’t really sure how it worked, especially now that it didn’t have any sort of data coming from the Bunker, but she wasn’t about to question something so useful.

“We’re looking for metal. We don’t need a lot, but it’s harder to come by now. We’re not sure where we should even look.”

“Well, Pod?” A2 looked at Pod 042, unsure whether it would take the hint without a more direct prompt.

Pod 042 searched for nearby metal. Finally, he announced, “Success: A large concentration of scrap metal has been located just outside of the current map data of the Flooded City. Marking approximate location on the maps of units A2 and 2B.”

Hm. It had gotten a little smarter, she thought, to think ahead enough to understand that they would want to go together.

“This is quite a large area,” 2B noted. “It may take some time to search it thoroughly for the scrap metal.”

“Negative: The concentration is large enough that no searching should be necessary.”

Maybe it had been a scrap heap of some sort? 2B hadn’t had reason to explore outside of the current map data, so she had no idea what she would find there.

“Well, I don’t see any reason why not,” A2 said. They had their swords and healing items ready, and the Pod would make sure they got back to land safely if they misjudged a jump and fell into the water, so it seemed… well, as safe as anything could be with the machines around. She still didn’t trust them, but it wasn’t as though she hadn’t fought them alone for years. Now between her and 2B together, she felt more confident in her ability to best them if attacked, so long as her old fears didn’t get the best of her.

2B nodded in agreement. “We’ll get some for you. How much do you need?”

Devola shrugged. It would probably take a few tries, so even though a guitar itself didn’t need very much metal, it would be good to get more than she needed. If there was a large amount, there was no reason to worry, anyway. She held out her hands to show a moderate amount of scrap metal. “Maybe this much? But if you wanted to bring extra in case we need it for other things, I’m sure it would come in handy too.”

There were two of them, so if there was a lot of metal there, there wasn’t much reason not to. After all, the Resistance camp members had always been willing to share resources with them when needed, so there was no reason to feel the need to keep it to themselves.

“Sure. Let’s do it,” A2 said. “Devola, Popola, we’ll be back with your scrap metal as soon as we can. Show me your project if it works out?”

Popola smiled. “Of course! Thank you for your help.”

“…Don’t mention it.” Gratitude made her a bit uncomfortable, even now, so she quickly changed the subject. “How long do you think it’ll take us to get over there and gather the metal? …There’s no way it would be more than a day, right?”

“I don’t think it would. Let’s tell Anemone tomorrow is just fine.”

They did, and then the two of them set off to the Flooded City.

The machines there simply ignored them, to A2’s relief. Her guard was still up, but they were able to make their way toward the marked area of their maps without any issue.

“It should be just over that hill,” 2B said, pointing to it.

“We’d better be on our guards, just in case,” A2 said. She knew that 2B was already aware of that, but it made her feel a little bit better to remind her anyway.

“Definitely.”

The two of them ran up the hill… and then stopped dead in their tracks. 2B’s legs caved, and she fell to her knees. A2 was still frozen in place. Finally, she allowed herself to drop to her knees beside 2B.

It was something neither of them had thought they would ever see again.

It was the remains of the Bunker.


End file.
